Environmental Exposure Grand Rounds
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
7:00am to 8:00am in the Freeman Building, Rooms B144
Complex(ed) Metals: Discordant risk/benefit perceptions of chelation
in the scientific community and popular culture.
Speakers:
Jenna LeRoy, MD and Travis Olives, MD MPH MEd
Senior Medical Toxicology fellows, Regions Hospital Toxicology Education & Clinical Services
Abstract:
Chelation of heavy metals remains a controversial topic.
• Acute exposures to heavy metals are rare
• Chelation is, in most popular applications, a treatment that is no more effective than
just stopping exposure.
• Chelating agents carry with them risks that are not inconsequential.
Despite evidence that limits effective application of chelation to specific circumstances, both
physicians and alternative medicine practitioners continue to chelate metals. The benefits of
these treatments are dubious, but the risks are real. Coupled with aggressive direct-toconsumer marketing of "natural," "safe" over-the-counter chelation products, exposures to
chelation products far exceed the numbers of cases in which chelation is appropriately
employed.
We'll discuss clinical scenarios in which chelation is indicated, review the data supporting
chelation therapy, and discuss the direct-to-consumer advertising of chelation products.
Biography for Jenna LeRoy, MD and Travis Olives, MD MPH MEd
Dr. LeRoy trained in Emergency Medicine at Regions Hospital after graduating from the
University of Iowa's Roy J. And Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine. Dr. Olives trained in
Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center after
graduating from the University of Minnesota Medical School. Both Dr. LeRoy and Dr. Olives split
time between the Regions Toxicology service and the Minnesota Poison Control System,
providing consultative services for acutely poisoned patients and providing telephone
consultations to Poison Center callers in Minnesota and the Dakotas.
Minnesota Department of Health
Site Assessment and Consultation Unit
PO Box 64975, St. Paul, MN 55164-0975
651-201-4903
[email protected]
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DIVISION